Supporting women’s cooperatives and associations in the agri-food sector of Lebanon

The recognition of the role of women in agriculture in Lebanon is still poor. However, it is certain that women in rural areas are major contributors to this sector. They account for up to 43 percent of the agricultural work force. They usually spend long hours performing labor-intensive and time-consuming manual agricultural tasks, such as sowing, weeding, harvesting and processing. They are also responsible for a major part of livestock production activities. Some estimates indicate that, in certain labor-intensive agricultural sectors (e.g. tobacco growing) and household-based production activities, women actually constitute the absolute majority.

 FAO Representation in Lebanon raises awareness on gender equality and builds the capacities of rural communities, farmers’ organizations, partner institutions and its own staff. Through various recent, current and upcoming projects, FAO implements many interventions aiming at empowering women economically.

 Funded by the Government of Canada, FAO in Lebanon implements the project “Support to Women’s cooperatives and associations in the agri-food sector of Lebanon”, with the Ministry of Agriculture and its Directorate General of Cooperatives. It aims at empowering and improving the livelihoods of rural women in Lebanon through capacity building, grants and cash for work. 

Since its launch in 2019, the project was able to build the capacity of 255 women groups (cooperatives, associations and informal groups) by enrolling them in Cooperative Business Schools (CBS).  The CBS curriculum is composed of the following modules: Concept and introduction to the Cooperative Business School (CBS), Business Idea and Situational Analysis, Market Analysis, Operational Planning, Financial Planning, Financial Statements, Risk Management, Environmental and Social Responsibility and Performance Monitoring. Here are some feedbacks received from groups’ representatives.

 “We learned that each person excels in a certain field,” said Helene Rahme, Representative of an inform group in Ainata El Arz village.

Wafaa El Kab, member of Nejmit El Sobeh cooperative in Al Mhaidthe village said: “I learned that in addition to what we were doing in the cooperative, we need to document everything and be up-to-date in technology when it comes to planning.”

Najme Haidar, member of Bekaaouna cooperative in Al Khiyara village learned how to sell the products of the cooperative via social media platforms. “We now have a social media page which opened lots of opportunities to us,” she said.

All participating women groups in the project were provided with a wide range of complementary relevant trainings such as: Cooperative legislation and principles, Sustainable business basics, Action Plan and Performance Analysis, Crisis Management, Sustainable Value chains, Gender Sensitive Value Chains, Marketing, My Coop, Communication and ICT, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Gender in Agriculture, and Ethics.

They were also provided, together with their family and community members, with an awareness campaign on gender equality addressing the several topics such as socially prescribed gender roles to women and men, promoting a conducive environment for women participating in economic activities and family decision-making, prevention and awareness programmes and activities for men on anger and stress management.

Nahla Al Hadidi, Syrian participant in the sessions said that she benefitted a lot from the content of the session, as she understood legal issues and law enforcement in particular regarding child marriage.

One of the Lebanese participants in the sessions said: “Lebanese women have the option to reach out to a wider social network or to extended family members and friends and they can reach out to GBV actors or even go straight to the Internal Security Forces and make a case, like I did when my husband was abusing me. However, the situation is different for Syrian women who do not have a social support network and who fear their husbands would abandon them or marry another woman. In Syrian communities, men have the absolute power and it is almost impossible for a Syrian woman to fight violence!”

Coached and followed up by the trained project facilitators, they were able to develop business plans for feasible and sustainable income generating small-scale projects. The project launched in January 2022 the signature process of 150 grant agreements with the selected women groups. It marked an important milestone, coming after a two-year capacity building programme of more than 250 women groups engaged all over the country.

Within the current crises, putting a big proportion of the Lebanese population into poverty and food insecurity, lots of hope is pinned on those women groups who could respond to crucial needs of rural areas and show the way of better production and better livelihoods.